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The cynics say that we keep reinventing the wheel. They say we have too many RPGs, mostly doing the same thing, and why bother to write yet another RPG about elves and magic swords? And they have one thing right - we should stop re-writing RPGs from scratch. Instead, we should change them.
Knave started as a modification of Cairne, as the writer wanted to add a few rules. And then someone copied Knave to create Vaults of Vaarn. Without the ability to copy these texts, the authors may never have made the books.
The difference between re-writing a book and only doing the typesetting is huge.
┌──────────────┐ typesetting ┌─────────────────┐ typesetting ┌───────────┐ │ Into the Odd │ ─────────────> │ Cairn │ ─────────────> │ Runecairn │ └──────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └───────────┘ │ │ typesetting ∨ ┌──────────────┐ typesetting ┌─────────────────┐ │ Knave │ ─────────────> │ Vaults of Vaarn │ └──────────────┘ └─────────────────┘
Actually, there's a little more than typestting. These books also needed
Everything one has to do to make a book creates a small barrier to entry - yet another reason someone might drop out. And we hear so many idea knocking about! We call them 'house rules', and many (perhaps most) don't make the game any better. But if we - the whole RPG community - could each make one proposal, then every house rule becomes an opportunity to make a better game.
If we could lower the barrier to entry for making or removing a rule, or editing a passage, or adding a piece of art, each book could work with a storm of contributors, altering everything from typos to game-breaking spells.
The famous term 'fantasy heartbreaker' was coined by Ron Edwards and refers to the massive number of D&D-like RPGs on the market which:
I see the problem, and therefore solution, very differently.
Original Fantasy Heartbreaker Article
Someone running an RPG for a long time inevitably has some gripe with the rules. Perhaps it's because White Wolf clearly haven't play tested those high-level abilities they stuck into their game. Perhaps it's just a matter of personal taste.
These GMs then often make 'house rules', then try to remember them, or perhaps stick them on a word document, and (if they're feeling very energetic) perhaps even send them to players.
The story mostly ends here, but some few people have such a lot of house rules, and such a burning desire to get them into a workable, actually usable format, that they'll attempt to rewrite an entire book.
This is the point where we have invisibly lost a lot of great ideas, because writing a book takes more time than most people have, and RPG books may be among the most challenging types of books to produce.
If we imagine that the problem with a fantasy heartbreaker is the author, then we're saying that the solution is for people to change. They must:
1. Be excellent at typography.
2. Edit their own work, or have the money to pay editors.
3. Make quality art for a 100 page book, or have the money for artists.
4. Write great prose.
Any solution which points to the authors as the problem must imply statements like these, and these are ridiculous statements.
Once the book is out, the layout is bland, the art is generic, and spelling mistakes assault the reader on every page. But the central idea is there - the combat system, or new classes, or whatever they wanted, is finally on the page, and they have a proper, convenient book to use at their gaming table.
At this point, the result is a success by any reasonable definition. The only 'tragedy' here is that nobody else can pick up these ideas without exactly the same barrier.
With the problem restated, the solution is simple - make fewer books, and hand out the source files.
People unfamiliar with the open source world often have some trouble really getting the workflow, so I want to tackle some misunderstandings.
If anyone can change the book, won't it end up a total mess?
People can change their own copy, and other people can get those changes.
How does anyone keep track of all those changes?
They use git - a 'version control system'. When you see all the changes mapped out, with everyone's changes going this way and that, into different versions, it looks pretty crazy.
┌──────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ (Bob) Add hunting system │ ──> │ │ <── │ (Emily) Typo fixes │ ──> │ (Emily) Remove Vancian magic │
└──────────────────────────┘ │ │ └────────────────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────────────┘
│ │
│ (Bob) Replace archery rules │ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │ ∨ │
│ │ ┌────────────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │ <── │ (Drake) Make halflings hobbits │ ──> │ (Alice) Add monsters │ ──> │ (Alice) Remove all races except humans │ ┌─ │ (Charlie) Fix spelling errors in combat │
└─────────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘
∧ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
...but once you see the history of a project, it suddenly seems so simple.
We can already copy the next from books and use SRDs that's all that really matters.
Nobody buys or uses SRDs. They use RPG books, and RPG books have formatting, prose, colour, art, life, pizazz!
Who's going to pay for all this?
Open source funding models tend to work a little differently from other ventures. Firstly, money has to be relegated to a piece of the puzzle, and not always a big one. Contributions and engagement drive the project, not finance.
Most graphic work still requires money, which would have to come either through funding campaigns (like Indie Go-Go) or from sales.
If anyone can sell the book, wouldn't the price hit rock-bottom?
Sometimes, yes. But people still often pay, often for a trademark. If anyone can alter the work, it's hard to know those alterations really improve the book. So trademarks let people trust a particular group, and fund just the group they trust.
Who's going to be in charge of all this?
You are. You can make your own copy, then take or make any changes you want.
In this model, there's no need for a central figurehead to tell people what's good and what's not. Most people can select a 'standard version'. Those curious about new rules can read about them in other versions. Over time, people inevitably gravitate towards pulling in the same ideas, and a de-facto 'real version' is made, then labelled '2nd Edition'.
The OGL never lived up to this promise of teamwork, but a real open source RPG still could. We could have a collection of a few RPGs - perhaps three fantasy, one cyberpunk, and two gothic-horror works - each being worked on by some hundreds of enthusiasts.
We have enough RPG creators out there. And once nobody needs to write an entire book just to add a couple of spells (or fix a spelling mistake), we could have many more.
With a little hope, I think we could make some fantastic games.
If you have that hope, pick up a copy of something with available source files.
Or if you want to make your own open-source RPG, give me a bell and I'll see if I can help.